The company famous for its film and the inventions of hand-held and digital cameras has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Eastman Kodak Company, based in Rochester, New York, for 130 years, is down to a local work force of 7,000 and a global staff of 17,000.

Eastman Kodak once employed 60,000 people in Rochester and was worth more than $30 billion. That was 15 years ago, before critics say the company made poor choices. That also was before debts outstripped the company's value. The company responsible for the first pictures taken on the moon now has a market value of less than $150 million.

Industry analysts believe the film and camera maker failed to realize the value of its digital camera and veered off onto an unproductive path of personal and business printers.

Kodak's bankruptcy petition claims more than $5 billion in assets and $6.75 billion in liabilities. The company secured $950 million line of credit from Citigroup to remain operational through reorganization.

The company generated some of its recent revenue by winning patent lawsuits over cellphone manufacturers HTC Corporation, Research in Motion and Apple. Now those rivals may turn the tables.

Some of the more than 1,100 digital imaging and printing patents Kodak owns may go up for auction. The patents may be Kodak's greatest asset since the technology is widely used in tablets, smartphones and digital cameras around the world.

Kodak officials are not throwing in the towel. Only U.S. subsidiaries of Kodak are covered in the bankruptcy petition, not foreign subsidiaries. The board chairman and CEO claims the company will bounce back as a "world-class digital imaging and materials science company."

Bankruptcy protection will help Kodak executives try to solve internal issues, like how to maintain benefits and payments to retired workers. In order to turn the company around, some analysts think Kodak will have to let go of most of its assets, including its patents, along with several of its businesses.

Source: Reuters, "Liabilities exceed assets by about $1.65 billion," Jan. 19, 2012